When the concept of selling thin sliced roast beef sandwiches in fast-food restaurants was first conceived and initiated, a solid muscle derived from the inside round of beef was roasted to provide the sliced roast beef. This muscle was referred to as "the heart" of the inside round. When there was only a limited number of outlets selling the product, supply was no problem. However, as the number of outlets increased they began to compete with each other for supplies and soon the lack of availability of "the heart" of the round became a serious problem.
In the 1960's the first sectioned and formed roast beef product for fast-food restaurant use was developed. The product was a mixture of lean beef chunks with a chopped beef binder and it was stuffed into a number 9 cellulose casing. It had the appearance of a large bologna or salami. The primary problem with the new product was that it had limited customer appeal as the consumer thought of the product as nothing more than a processed luncheon meat item and not a true roast beef product. In addition, the product was difficult to work with. During the cooking process, sometimes the product would actually explode in the oven. However, it did have the advantages of reasonable cost and availability and it did relieve the fast-food restaurants from their dependency on the solid muscle product.
In the early 1970's a restructured product comprised of a mixture of about 80% lean beef chunks and a ground beef binder was introduced. It had a more natural shape which resembled the old heart of the inside of the round. However, the product still had a number of definite drawbacks as the final roasted and sliced product did not have the appearance, bite or consistency of natural roast beef. Therefore, the product met with customer resistance and it was not considered, even when roasted in the restaurant, to be a true "roast beef". In addition, because of lack of quality control and product specifications, and the bastardization of the restructured product by a number of producers the quality and consistency of the product suffered.
In Huffman U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,677 a method is disclosed for preparing a restructured meat product from mechanically tenderized chunks and thinly sliced meat. An essential step of the Huffman patented process is the mechanical tenderization, preferably four times, of the meat chunks.